Ideas For Family Travel

Traveling with the family can be a joyous experience and there is no reason to leave your recycling attitudes at home; you can do your part even when you’re far from the comforts of home.

When you’re staying in a hotel or B&B, let the management of the hotel know that you will be reusing your towels and there is no need to have the bed linens changed daily. With a family, towels can get mixed up and there is an easy way to prevent that; from home, get a couple of safety pins and some beads. Put beads on the safety pins, one design for each family member and when you get to the hotel, simply pin each towel with a beaded safety pin to identify the different ones. Just reusing your towels for a few days will greatly impact the time and money that goes into running the laundry everyday.

Be sure to turn off all lights when you are leaving the hotel room, and any TVs or radios that may be plugged in and running. It’s easy to be distracted in a space that is not your home and it would be just as easy to forget the ways you conserve energy at home when you’re not there. If you find you leave the room with a light on, leave yourself a note right by the door, reminding yourself to check the lights before you walk out the door. There are some hotels that even do this for you, where they have a magnet that they leave on the door, at eye level, reminding you if you’ve turned off the lights.

Bring your own soap, shampoo and conditioner and leave the little bottles to be reused by guests who do not remember to bring their own. Soap travels really well in a plastic sandwich bag with a zip-lock and besides, wouldn’t you want your own choice of soap smells?

Along the same lines as remembering to turn out the lights, remember to turn down the heat/AC that will be running when you’re not in the room. And a further way to keep the room temperatures comfortable is to remember to close the drapes when you’re out of the room, most hotels have heavy drapes that will keep a cool room cool longer, if they’re closed.

Instead of leaving the light (and fan) on overnight, bring a little nightlight with you and you will save a lot by not running a rooms full light (and fan) on while you sleep. Have a permenant marker with you and assign one of the plastic cups to each person in your family when you arrive at the room. There is no reason to have dishwashing services when the plastic cups are sanitary and are perfectly capable of being reused. Avoid room service for the same reason, there is no need to have excess dishes to wash that would normally not be used. When you eat in the restaurant, they’re already doing the dishes there.

Remember that you can still have all the home values you practice at home when you’re on the road with your family. Keep recycling!

How To Travel And Still Recycle

There are so many ways that we can choose to stay environmentally contientious when we travel that there really is no excuse for not doing it.

Here are a few ideas for families that are traveling and still want to stay in their recycle-conscious state of mind.

Before you even leave your home there are ways that you can help save energy and waste. Turn your thermostats down on your home and your hot water heater. Some heaters have a “Vacation” setting right on them that can be used to set the temperature when no one will be around to need the heat. Just keep in mind the plants that are left behind and as long as they will not be killed off due to the temperature change, you’re set. Be sure to turn off your outside water source, in the event that there is a pipe break while you’re away, this will minimize the damage. When you return home, turn the water back on slowly, where you will be able to be aware of any issues or leaks that may have occurred.

If you are going to be away from home for a few days, stop your newspaper delivery. That way the paper won’t be left to end up in the trash receptical and waste your time when you return home, sorting through what is relavent mail and what is not. You may even want to check to see if your paper can be donated to a school or non-profit organization, where it will be used in your absence.

If you or someone else in your home sleeps on a waterbed, turn the temperature down on that while you’re away, you can go as low as a ten degree difference and it will impact your energy usage. If you have a refrigerator with the ability to make ice cubes, be sure to turn that part off by lifting the wire, and you can lessen the risk of flooding should it break while you’re away.
There are airlines that offer electronic ticketing and by using these services will cut back on the paper waste generated by the airline, on a daily basis. There are even some airlines that charge a fee if you have lost a paper ticket, so rid yourself of any of those problems by opting for the paper-less airline ticket options.

If you are heading out of town, before you leave, go around the house and unplug the items that you would normally leave plugged in, like the TV, the computer, cable converter boxes, appliances, VCRs, stereos, etc. If these items are left plugged in to the outlets they can still draw or “leak” energy, even up to 40 watts per hour, even if they have been turned off. I think this is one of the most important messages to get across before you leave for a vacation; even if your electronics are turned off, they can still cost you money if they remain plugged in. Do yourself a big favor and always be sure to check these items before walking out the door to your vacation.

How Recycling Bags Helps The Environment

You may not be aware, but in the United States, we are using bags all of the time! There are the bags we get at the grocery store, the ones we pack lunches in, the ones other retail items come in and everything that is packaged by the manufacturer. Inevitibly we could all end up, literally, buried under the pile of bags that we collect in a life time. And what a waste that would be! The good news is that most of those bags come from recycled products and with any luck, in the recycle process, will return to the start and be recycled into bags that we will use again and again.

But what should the average American consumer do when those bags start to pile up? It doesn’t take long for the pile to start to form, maybe two or three big trips to the grocery store, and you could end up with 15 or more bags per visit. What are some of the ways we can keep the build up of plastic bags to a minimum?

It there are cats in your house those left over bags from the grocery store come in handy when cleaning out the litter box. Just having the bags around when you have to touch something you really don’t want to. By having the bags, in hand, the actual touching of the item is no longer an issue and it will help with germs being passed from cat litter box to human, which can cause all kinds of illnesses.

People can reuse the bags as lunch bags, rather than the old way of using a new “brown bag” for lunch carrying purposes. It may not seem like a great effort but each and every effort, no matter how little, is having an impact.

Another way to cut down on the recycling in the area of shopping is to have a designated bag that can be used over and over again for the groceries. Totally eliminating the need for the plastic bag is a huge step toward progress when it comes to recycling. There are companies that sell bags for this purpose and some of them are made from organic materials and even have sayings on them like, “Nothing on me is plastic,” and my personal favorite, “I’m not an old bag!” I love the companies that make bags like these because they can do it with flair. Some of the recycled bags come in a rainbow of neon colors that are, to say the least, eye catching, as well as reusable! Canvas totes can be thrown into a washing machine and will serve for many, many trips to pick up bread and milk.

The bottom line is becoming aware of what we use and how such items can be reused. No matter where you shop or what purchases you make, if, at the end of the day you’re surrounded by plastic bags, there’s always a way to get more use out of them.

Hotels That Recycle

Are you planning a trip? Whether it is a trip for business or pleasure; you have options and with just a little research you can find a hotel that is environmentally friendly! There are “Green” Hotels in which the hotel does all it can in order to recycle, reuse and reduce.

Some of the ways hotels are becoming environmentally friendly are by letting guests know that they will only clean the room upon request; that cuts down on the amount of laundry that needs to be washed, electricity that needs to be used to vacuum and the man power itself, that it needs in order to accommodate for daily cleaning.

Hotels can also request that you re-use your towels rather than having them laundered every day. There are programs in some hotels that have bins for recycling glass, plastic and aluminum set up for easy recycling by the guests as well as the employees. Just by making these bins available gives no excuse for why recycling can’t be a success.

Hotels that are on the “Green” list are in the forefront of ways to recycle and they are finding that more than 70% of their customers not only abide by their energy and cost saving measures, they have helped to develop them. Many hotels and motels have put suggestion cards in the rooms for their guests to fill out and have implimented some of the ideas that came right from their consumers.

If a hotel is a popular spot for banquets and meetings, changes as simple as using pourers for sugar and pitchers for cream have been able to cut down on the waste of individually wrapped sweetners and individual cups of cream. There is also less left over to add to the unused, end-of-the-day waste. Some facilities have gone as far as to place notices on tables in meeting rooms and some restaurants to advise customers that water will be poured, upon request.

There are some ways hotels are joining in the cause for an environmentally friendly product that most hotel guests will never see. There are water-saving devices that will save the water that is flushed by about 75%, never affecting the flush in any way, but making quite a difference with the utility costs. Devices such as the toilet tank fill diverter and tiny parts that fit into the head of a shower to cut down on the water useage will not be noticed by the guests but make a big impact on the environment.

Hospitality venues that are using these kinds of measures to cut back on our waste and are environmentally contientious should be the places we choose to stay. If we, as concerned consumers, take a stand and only patronize hotels and motels and B&Bs that are taking the idea of recycling to heart and have made changes to help the Earth, the more hotels will realize that we know how to exercise our choice and will do so even when we are away from home.

Easy Ways to Recycle

When you think of recycling do you sigh and think that you just don’t have the time or energy to do it? Do you see visions of hundreds of thousands of empty plastic bottles in some far-away factory getting ready to be melted down? Do you think that recycling is something that has to be hard; otherwise if it’s not hard, then it doesn’t count? I’m embarrassed to say that at one time, these were the thoughts that ran through my head and they justified my reasons for not recycling. I’m here to tell you that I was mistaken; recycling isn’t something difficult, or something you have to go out of your way to participate in and when it’s easy, well, it’s just easy; and it still counts toward recycling.

Here are some of the easy ways I have found to recycle:

I have a terrible habit of leaving lights on when I leave a room. I seem to be someone who, when doing any kind of work, whether it’s writing or stripping wallpaper, I need a lot of light around to do it. The first two ways I found to conserve energy and count myself in as a “recycler” was to turn off lights as I left a room. Sounds easy, right? Well, that’s because it is easy. The only thing I had to do was remind myself that I was no longer going to waste energy by leaving lights on in a room that no one was occupying.

Mind you, I’ve had 43 years of doing things the way I’d been doing them and the change didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen. There hasn’t been a doorway I’ve walked through in the past 6 months or so that I haven’t given a quick inventory before passing through the threshold and thinking, “Did I leave any lights on?” The great thing is, the times that I have left a light on, I’m given the final opportunity to stop and turn around and turn off the lights before leaving the room for good. Is this a difficult change? Like I said, it didn’t happen as soon as I thought about my part in the effort to recycle, but it is something I have allowed myself to consider on a daily basis.

The other way I have found to easily adhere to this recycling thing is that I changed my lightbulbs. Yup, that simple act of replacing a burned-out bulb with one of the new, energy saving kind has really been a big help. The newer bulbs use up to 75% less energy when lighting a room and they will last up to ten times longer, too. How can you beat that? And there wasn’t any effort on my part; all I did was replace the bulb with the new and improved bulb and have made quite the impact on my electric bill.

The good news is this; there are easy ways to stay on track with recycling, and you don’t have to look very far to find them.

Buying Appliances With The Energy Star Rating

We all have appliances that break down or stop working with any kind of effeciency and the question becomes, where do we turn from here? Well, I have some suggestions and these suggestions will keep in line with the idea of energy conservation and recycling.

There are home products and products for the office that have been rated and earned the ENERGY STAR rating, which means that they are within the effeciency guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) as being cost effective and/or producing less waste. These agencies have deemed certain products as energy efficient and where ever you purchase appliances or heating and cooling systems, electronics and office equipment, by choosing a product that has the Energy Star mark, you are purchasing a product that is going to work with the efforts to recycle, reuse and reduce.

Many newer homes start off with energy efficient appliances and systems that are a savings right from the start, but not every one is that lucky to have brand new equipment. It’s always good to keep in mind that when you are replacing an item, the best bet is to get the updated version which will almost automatically fall into the ratings of Energy Star and you’ll know that you will be doing your best in the effort to use less energy and produce less waste.

All of the retailers from the largest appliance chains have products that are Energy Star approved. Whether you are shopping at Lowe’s Home Improvements, Sears, Best Buy, Costco or the Home DePot, you will find a great selection of energy star rated options.

Because of the need for more and more options that will back the recycling effort in the United States, using Energy Star approved appliances not only makes sense but will end up, in the long run, saving the consumer on monthly expenses. How can helping the environment and saving money be a bad thing?

Please remember when you are making any home improvements or replacing any broken or out-dated appliances to only purchase those items that have the Energy Star rating and keep the process of recycling going. It’s always better to keep up with something, like recycling, when you don’t even know you’re doing it! Energy Star products will keep you in that frame of mind.

Also, if you are looking to upgrade your windows in your home there are Energy Star rated windows that, when installed properly, will be a great asset to your home in the struggle to control the high cost of heating. Look for double pane windows and be sure that all of the surrounding area of the window is not allowing the cold air in, because if it is, then you can bet the warm air is leaking out and there’s, “No need to heat the whole neighborhood,” as my father used to say, everytime one of my sisters or I would leave the back door opened, when we were growing up.

Arts and Crafts And Recycling

There are so many ways to integrate recycling with arts and crafts and still have hours of entertainment and maybe make a few holiday gifts.

One of my favorite crafts is to decopauge. The materials needed to do this are simply old magazines, a pair of scissors, some white glue and something to decorate. I’ve seen people use this art medium on every kind of article from wooden boxes up to queen bed head boards.

Once you have the item (or items) you want to decorate you can put them aside and start flipping through the magazines for pictures and words that jump up at you or help convey something you want to say. The great thing about this craft is that there is no “wrong” way to do it. Some people will use an entire advertisement including the background in the ad and others may cut out the person or object from the background. The idea is to have a piece of a page to be layered upon the object to be decorated.

After you have enough pictures and words cut out you can start to decorate your object. The ideas and creativity, from this point on, are endless! Use all cut outs of flowers and birds to decorate your project, cut out every picture of a dog and see how many you can find and use all of them to decorate your recycled project!

Arrange your clippings onto the surface of whatever it is you’re going to reuse or decorate and put a layer of glue over the entire project. Using white glue or Mod Podge will give you a clear coating over your art and when that layer is dry, coat it again, and so on. The coatings of glue will protect your artwork and if you use a gloss-finish, it will have a nice shine to it, too.

I started making “Blessings Boxes” for the Christmas gifts I would give to my children’s teachers. I would reuse an old shoe box, and cover the entire outside of it with cut out pictures from magazines. The main objective was to cover up the shoe brand on the outside of the box with the pictures and words.

The idea behind the “Blessings Boxes” was that throughout the year, when there was a blessing in their life, maybe a ticket stub to a baseball game or a movie shared with a friend, birthday cards, get well cards, etc. they were to place these blessings into the box. The best part is that, during that year, when they had a day where they would feel blue or needed a smile, they knew they could always open their “Blessings Box” to be reminded of the beautiful things that have happened in their life.

These gifts were the talk of the elementary school the first year I made them and I will say that at the very beginning of every year after, my children’s teachers would let me know how beautiful they thought my creations were and (wink, wink) they wouldn’t mind getting one for themselves!

The best part is that I never spent extra money making one of those gifts! It was a success all due to being recycled materials.

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